I’m quite particular about hygiene. Before the pandemic occurred, friends and colleagues alike would always turn to me for wipes and sanitisers, as I carried them virtually all the time.

It’s natural for me; my parents, well into their 60s and 70s, both have underlying health conditions. This could make contracting everyday illnesses a big problem, let alone Covid-19.

As much as maintaining good personal hygiene has always been a priority for me, it’s also highly personal and dependent on the people around you.

I could be clean, but all it takes is a particularly stubborn dad with a nose-picking habit, or someone forgetting to wash their hands when they return home to undo my efforts.

I tried to remind them casually about the importance of keeping the germs at bay, but here are the responses I’ve received so far.

My dad: “I’ve been doing it all this while, nothing happened what.”

My mum: “Aiyah need to clean your hands until like that meh?”

My younger sister: “I will die from your nagging first.”

At this point when cases in Singapore are soberingly high, this isn’t something to joke around.

From here on out, I will take charge of my family’s hygiene, and get them to actually take this seriously. I gave myself 5 days, and by the end of it, I endeavoured to get everyone a bit more serious about their hygiene, and to inculcate better hygiene habits that will last them beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.

The challenge is that no one takes me seriously. The younger sibling would listen but brush it off, while the older adults have very little motivation to heed my advice.

After all, who would you rather listen to - your friends and siblings, or the gremlin who you helped to change their loaded diaper years ago?

No time to mope around. Got to start from somewhere.

Day 1

I’ll start with my parents. In a typical boomer fashion, my parents listen to my aunts and uncles more than me, so I have to find a way to emulate the way they communicate with my parents.

We’re in different households, but they’ve always been keeping contact through WhatsApp.

They’d share various messages, spreading both fake news and real news, along with the ubiquitous good morning messages, complete with glittery butterflies and flowers.

Speaking of which, I got tagged in a viral campaign from Lifebuoy a few days ago featuring boomer-approved good morning messages which compelled me to forward them to the family group chat.

They’ll surely listen to a viral WhatsApp message, if not my advice.

Much to my surprise, the messages caused the various aunts and uncles in the chat to respond to me with thanks and regards. It’s working, it seems!

As I write this, those messages seem to have been forwarded into their own network of boomers.

Day 2

My mum saw the messages even though she was too busy to reply.

I saw my mum washing her hands more often and properly, however. My dad’s unable to move around in the house by himself, but there’s a greater conscious effort by my mum to remind us or help my dad sanitise and clean his hands before eating.

This must be the magical power of WhatsApp images - which is essentially speaking to someone in a medium of communication which they appreciate, and understand.

Since I’ve gotten this insight about the boomers, I’ll now work on my sister.

For every good morning message a boomer sends, there’s a TikTok trend being tried out by a zoomer.

TikTok users enjoy the platform for the memes and dance challenges, where the user has to try to replicate the dance move.

In this case, the #Dothelifebuoy challenge, which incorporated handwashing movements into a dance was just what was needed for my mission.

The challenge consisted of a catchy song with lyrics that detailed proper handwashing steps and made it easier to remember. After all, not many of us know the proper steps by heart - do you remember them?

The challenge required TikTok users to rope in an extra person or family member - an #extracleanfam, specifically, to join in the dance and #DoTheLifeBuoySG.

While everyone’s stuck at home during this circuit-breaker period, seeing users and their families being able to bond over a fun communal activity while memorizing the proper hand-washing steps together was rather sweet. I got inspired.

@walkingfridgesg

Join the ##ExtraCleanFam and ##DoTheLifebuoySG Do it Right and we'll be alright! ##SGUnited

♬ Do It Right and We'll Be Alright - Ng Zheng Yao

@charissahoo

Do it right and we’ll be alright ##DoTheLifebuoySG ##ExtraCleanFam ##SGUnited ##Ad

♬ Do It Right and We'll Be Alright - Ng Zheng Yao

Since various submissions rallied older folks, I tagged my sister to try out the challenge with my mum, who also has been asking about the “weird” app my sister was dancing to.

My sister was only too happy to take it up. Mum was mostly amused and confused, but my sister somehow managed to convince her to do the steps.

Maybe it’s the perk of being the younger sibling, but I’m quite pleased that it formed an education opportunity for the both of them, while bridging the information gap between generations.

Day 3

I guess the message got through, but there’s only so much doing TikTok challenges or forwarding messages can help inculcate personal hygiene.

That means actually having to proactively remind my family on the basics. Not as interesting as dancing, but it’s like how simple hand washing can prevent Covid-19 infection - the mundane things could prevent a virus infection.

Much like in office or school, I placed posters around the house to remind my family members that they should be washing their hands frequently. I also included reminders such as monitoring their health and not touching their faces.

Day 4, 5

I stepped up to disinfect handles, switches and doorknobs more often since we touch them frequently and it’s important to get rid of any germs that linger on these surfaces. For example, the front gate would be frequently touched by family members who come back from grocery trips. We’d usually just dust them off, but it has become a matter of great importance.

I found myself having to still repeat myself and point to the signs to my family occasionally, everyone is coming together to step up on their personal hygiene.

Hygiene is a habit rather than a one-off thing. There are still times where I catch my dad reaching for his nose, or my siblings eating without having washed their hands properly, but by the fifth day, everyone seems more conscious in their efforts to maintain their personal hygiene.

For example, my sister would wash her hands while doing the dance and I would catch my mother sending messages to remind her family on basic hygiene.

Meal times finally begin and end with everyone at the sink washing up properly, and we’ve been taking turns to help our dad proactively to clean his hands and devices.

Before this my mum would never ask for help cleaning her phone, but now I see her reaching for the wipes, which is quite encouraging.

Since I first shared the boomer images to the extended family WhatsApp chat, they now expect me to supply them with more Good Morning messages on a daily basis.

My only dilemma from this experience is where can I possibly find a steady supply of boomer images?

I’m properly washing my hands first, in any case.

The article is sponsored by Lifebuoy, who has thankfully kept the hygiene of the writer’s family in place.